Colon hydrotherapy (or a colonic, as it is usually called) is a professional health service that can be extremely helpful to prevent disease, to prepare for a colonoscopy, to help with constipation, or for anyone with digestive issues.Purified water is slowly and gently introduced into the colon, also known as the large intestine. Over the course of about 45 minutes, a lot of old fecal material, gas, and mucus are dissolved, broken up, and … [Read more...]

If you are waging war against disease, you are fighting a losing battle! Why? Because, as Florence Nightingale said,
"There are no specific diseases; only specific disease conditions".
Health is an inside job, because whether we succumb to disease or maintain health, it is due to the internal environment in our bodies. It is predicated upon whether we have accumulated toxins in our cells and organs, congesting them, causing inflammation, … [Read more...]

So many of us are chronically sleep deprived due to a myriad of reasons – stress, over-stimulation from television, computers and phones, poor exercise and eating habits, etc.; I have never been a great sleeper and in fact am perfectly happy and energetic operating on six hours of sleep per night, which I’m consistently told is “not enough” but in recent years the added effects of menopause have made sleeping through the night even more … [Read more...]

Into this box – old paints and thinners and primers and stains and cleaners and brushes. Take it away.
Into that box - broken phones and batteries, cords and cameras no longer blinking. Take it away.
On the porch - books and clothes and more books and more clothes, and stuff and stuff and stuff. Take it away. Please take it away.
And paintings from the walls, and dishes from the shelves, and papers and papers and papers. I beg of … [Read more...]

This piece has been a while coming as I’ve looked about our home deciding what on earth to do with all of Mike’s things.
“There is no rush, take your time. Things have energy and you will know when it is time.” This was the wisdom of Ziri Rideaux, the fabulous woman from Friends Funeral Home, who helped guide me through the process.
As we sat there, Elise and I, trying to absorb this new reality, she reminded me that everything was … [Read more...]

Over and over I’ve expressed my great thanks to family and friends, old and new, for their amazing outpouring of love and support. Though not religious in any formal tradition, I’ve come to call them my angels and feel blessed to be surrounded by so many. But the story I’m about to share taught me that angels are everywhere, in all walks of life, all shapes and sizes, sometimes when we least expect it.
It was a week after Mike had passed away … [Read more...]

What is the jumping point for this writing? Where do I begin? You are joining me mid-chapter. So perhaps I need to bring you up to date. On May 8, my husband Mike went in for a simple surgery. Two and a half hours and a thousand sorries later, they told me he was gone. That day has become my line in the sand, life before he passed away and then the everything after.
As any who have experienced loss it is a rollercoaster of emotions. His … [Read more...]

Last night I heard a friend had passed away. She was my age. After two months of surgery and great pain, the cancer got the best of her.
As we spoke of her and the progression of her illness over cups of tea, the thing that struck me most was a story of how in her last days of delirium she played melodies in the air. That visual, fingers moving in the shadows, playing a Mozart Concerto was hauntingly beautiful, and terribly painful.
For … [Read more...]

Guitar classes. My husband gave me a series at McCabe's for Christmas this year. I haven’t played since I was in college but was inspired to pick it back up again after all this time.
It is definitely harder on this old brain to make it all work – fingering and plucking and reading and rhythm. But it is a fantastic reminder that it is diligence and persistence that make the difference, because at each class we are all a little … [Read more...]

A patient of mine, we’ll call her Jane, described the following process. She had manysymptoms that not only aggravated her, they also scared her. She was worried she was deteriorating very rapidly.
Here were her symptoms: Poor energy and stamina: she did not feel refreshed after a full night’s sleep and had an afternoon slump. Her hip joints became painful and stiff over the past year to the point where she limped. Additionally, her … [Read more...]